Sensors and Detector Solutions in Energy Storage ESS

Renewable energy well known as the solar and wind energy are impedeted in development under the push of reducing global warming potentials GWP. However the traditional energy(oil, coal, etc) is still the mainstream of the market although renewable energy has growed in large-scale expansion owning to the advancement of energy storage and transportation technology. Conversion into chemical energy (e.g. hydrogen, batteries) allows for energy systems to supply for the flexible use.

The most wide trend is chemical energy storage estimated to reach trillion in 2025 and 3 trillion in 2030, such as hydrogen energy storage, battery storage(eg. Lithium-ion battery ) due to the less limitation on area and resources, high density and flexible adjustment. However energy security has become a new challenge mainly causing by the instability of chemical battery prone to heating severely which cause fire and even explosion leading to economic loss, casualties and environmental problem. Security management system is developed to monitor the running conditions of the ESS.

Accidents of energy storage battery may come from complicate causes. Lithium-ion storage facilities contain high-energy batteries combined with highly flammable electrolytes. In addition, they are prone to quick ignition and explosion in a worst-case scenario. Manufacturing quality of batteries on the market is varying from technology mater company to small suppliers. Battery aging as working life span approaching is one of the big potential risks. From outer factors, over-load, short circuit, heating impact may lead to instant rise of temperature and pressure in the battery causing fire and explosion. Over discharge of battery consumes the chemicals inside and produce mass flammable gas becoming the source of accident. Environmental conditions as operation in extra high or low temperature, water immense and dust intrusion influence the battery safety in different levels. Besides, the professional station management is quite important to handle various problems in case accumulated to big accidents.

How to manage ESS to reduce the risks of accidents? The current way is devide the ESS into three sectors of battery layout, safety monitoring and fire distinguishing. The energy storage container is consisted of battery clusters which is further devided into packs to seperate the units to prevent heating transmission and keep the risk source in limited space.

The battery safety monitoring system can be installed to monitor and optimize the performance of single or multiple circuit systems or battery systems, and can perform circuit disconnection operations based on the real-time status of the circuit system. The popular BMS battery management system today can be regarded as a battery management system that senses voltage, current, temperature and other parameters of the circuit system.

Install fire fighting systems. When a fire occurs in an energy storage station, the fire protection system can cool down the area where the fire occurred, lowering the temperature of the battery and preventing the fire from spreading further. Aerosol fire extinguisher is also activated to put out the fire rapidly.

How to detect the potential risks or early indicators for accidents and activate protection device? Sensors and detectors play an important role for each area of management and monitoring. Current and voltage sensors are able to monitor abnormal change of the current and voltage. When there is overheating or leakage risks, off-gas such as CO, H2, VOC, aerosol can be detector by the gas sensors. Other indicator changes of pressure, temperature, humidity and flame can also be monitored. The detectors connected with security management system to give early alarm and start fire protection system.

Product Link: https://www.winsen-sensor.com/new-energy-and-automotive/

Winsen provides spatial point detection, battery cabinet (cluster-level detection), and battery pack (pack-level detection) sensor solutions for energy storage security systems to achieve combined detection of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, smoke, VOC, aerosol, temperature and humidity etc in the early stage of battery leakage or thermal runaway, using professional sensing technology to protect the safety of energy storage.

Safety is the bottom line for the high-quality development of the energy storage industry. The use of multi-sensor fusion technology to achieve systematic and refined control of energy storage safety, and the establishment of multiple safety protection systems for energy storage is still the direction. Increasing energy densities and higher technology complexity are accompanied by greater demands on precision management and the reliability of safety systems.

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